Aside from a shooting drill or two, the focus was on defense and conditioning.

“We know what to expect, going through it last year,” said sophomore Omar Calhoun. “That doesn’t make it any easier. But this stuff is what gets us going for the season.”

The new season has officially started for UConn, a program steeped in a tradition of winning. Second-year coach Kevin Ollie’s club is multi-layered with talented veterans and coming off an unexpected 20-win season.

Yet in many ways, it’s a rebirth.

There’s a new conference with new opponents. Ollie began last season as a glorified interim coach. He earned himself a multi-year contract less than two months into the campaign.

“You want to play the game the way you always played it, but it will be different,” said senior guard Shabazz Napier. “It will be different to go play (conference games) in Texas. You want to make it seem like it won’t be any different than the Big East, but we’ll be going different places.”

That should include, if UConn lives up to expectations, the postseason. After a one-year hiatus, the program having served its NCAA penance, it is once again allowed a shot at winning another national championship.

All signs point to the Huskies being one of the better teams in the American Athletic Conference. Louisville, the defending national champion, remains a conference foe for one more winter before fleeing to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Memphis should also contend for the inaugural AAC crown.

Ollie understands there is real potential in Storrs. Napier, Calhoun and Ryan Boatright make for a solid backcourt. DeAndre Daniels heads a front court brimming with potential. Amida Brimah, a 7-foot freshman shot-blocker, and 6-10 sophomore Phil Nolan could be impact players.

Kentan Facey, an athletic 6-9 freshman, is practicing, though not yet cleared by the NCAA.

“We have a deep team. We should be able to get out and run, play with a different style,” Ollie said. “They’re going to be a good team, but they’re going to have to challenge each other. That’s what we’re striving for every day.”

Calhoun working back

Calhoun played most of his freshman season in pain. A hip condition limited his mobility and was a constant nag. It required offseason surgery, where doctors shaved bone on both sides to alleviate the impingement in his joints.

He was a full participant on Saturday. There was soreness, but it was a good soreness, and he graded himself out at 75 percent.

“I felt some soreness throughout the practice,” Calhoun said. “I kept pushing myself through it. There was a lot of physicality and running and moving. Just to test myself, and know what’s going to make me feel sore, it’s getting readjusted to my body before the season starts.”

The 6-6, 200-pound guard, named New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year while at Christ the King in Brooklyn, knows there’s plenty of work still to be done. It’s only been a month since he was cleared to begin actual basketball activity, three months since he ditched the crutches.

He was disappointed despite a solid first year in which he started 29 games and averaged 11.1 points with 3.9 rebounds.

“I feel like I’m back in the mix and haven’t missed a beat,” Calhoun said. “I really just need to keep improving the strength in my legs and hips.”